Myling's Sorrow
by LioraSylvaine
Summary: After Liora's village is massacred by the Goverment's Army who wants to exterminate all the Heathens, she manages to escape, together with her teacher. 14 years later, when a new threat against her people appears, Liora, now a young alchemist, decides to go on a journey to find her family, from which she hasn't heard anything ever since the massacre. Set in the world of FMA!
1. Prologue

_Dust._  
_The smell of dust, fire, gunpowder and the fresh-hunted catch everywhere around her._  
_Only this time, the prey weren't wild animals._

_People running, people screaming, people falling on the ground and being silenced forever._  
_A ray of hope as the protective shadow of her mother appears above her, only to be followed by a ray of despair, which reflected the look on her face and the horror in her eyes._

_"We need to run", she takes her hand, only to be separated once again when moments later something big, something mean, something maleficent grabs her mother and takes her out of her sight._  
_Out of her world._

_"Lili, Mama, where's Lili, oh Mama, don't leave me, we have to find Lili" but no one can hear the tiny child's voice in this chaos._

_Then just a little bit more of smoke, screaming, and something hot flowing down her left cheek._  
_And then nothing._  
_Darkness._  
_And that gut-wrenching sensation in her 3-year-old mind that the world where she used to spend her careless days playing and enjoying the beauties of life is never going to be the same again._


	2. Episode 1: Defender of Sakhana

When the first noon sunbeam touched her face through the treetop of one of the countless cherry trees in her village, the best Liora could do was just lazily yawn. She turned to the other side, just to be faced nose-to-nose with something fluffy and wet, probably from the nearby well. She half-opened her left eye, and a small, fluffy white creature, rubbing it's front paws and wiggling it's nose, came into focus.

Liora sighed.  
"Geez, Sensei, I can't get even two hours of good sleep...", she mumbled to herself. She sat, rubbed her eyes, stretched, and shooed the interested creature. "Go away, Yukimi. Tell Sensei I'll come soon." The rabbit just wiggled its nose once again, and then dissapeared into some nearby bushes.

As she finally managed to get up and head for her teacher's house, Liora was thinking about the conversation the two of them had last night. Being the one who found her among hundreds of victims when 14 years ago their village was massacred and burned to the ground by the soldiers of Krypteian Goverment, Liora's teacher Nisha, or "Sensei" as Liora liked to call her, has been looking after her like she was her own daughter. Just yesterday, Liora finally found courage to discuss an idea that she'd been keeping in her mind for some time.

* * *

*flashback*

"Sensei, I want to talk with you about something."

"Yes, my dear?"

Liora sat at the table next to the fireplace, where Nisha was preparing dinner.

"I don't think we can talk about this while you're concentrated on that food. Please, sit with me?"

Nisha looked up at her foster daughter. She looked serious; the look on her face was incomprehensible. She left the tray with the food on the floor, stood up and went to sit with Liora.

"What is it? Did you do something bad?"

"Umm, no. It's just that... I've been thinking for some time..." Liora didn't know how to start this conversation. How can she tell the woman who's been a mother to her for the last 14 years that she wants to leave into the unknown, where who knows what awaits her - maybe even death? "... You know how you told me that I've learned a lot, and how all my abilities have improved."

"Yes?"

"Well, I..." This was hard. This was very hard. Liora swallowed the big ball of fear that was forming in her throat, and determinedly said - "I want to go and find my parents!"

Nisha just raised one eyebrow. "What?"

Since she was expecting an outburst, shouting, maybe even a slap, Liora was confused. Sensei's calm reaction was nothing but a proof of disbelief - she must have thought that Liora's kidding.

"Sensei, you know I'm not a kid anymore. I've turned seventeen last month. I've perfected my alchemy. My magick is also good - I can't really talk to animals, or summon rain like you do - but I can use the goods of nature to my aid. Have you seen that statue of Shammah that broke a few days ago in the center of the village? Do you know who fixed it? No, it weren't the sculptors!" Liora looked at her hands, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I did it! And we've both heard the rumors that had been spreading through the South Villages for some time - about the start of the civil war, and the persecution of Heathens-"

"No."

Liora stopped, cut off by this short answer. "But-"

"No way." Nisha just stood up, and went to finish preparing the dinner, without further explanation.

This made Liora a bit furious. She stood up too, and went towards her teacher. "But Sensei! Do you know what does that mean? If Mama and Papa - and Lili - if, if they're still alive, somewhere out there - who knows what will happen to them if this extermination starts! I know we've been living in this village for the last 14 years like they're dead, like we've accepted that we'll never see them or our other fellow villagers again, after they've burned down Melas - that we've been hiding what we truly are and practicing Magick and other Heathen crafts in secret from our neighbours in Sakhana - but, but, I know they're alive, and that thay're somewhere there, I can feel it here!" Liora pressed her hand on the left side of her chest, over her heart. "And if it happens that all this time they were actually alive, but they get killed in this new upcoming chaos, and I did nothing to help them - I, I - I would never forgive myself! Never-ever in my whole life!"

Nisha stood up once again. She approached Liora, stood right in front of her, took a lock of her hair in her hand, and looked her straight in the eyes. The tone of her voice was surprisingly, scarily calm.

"Do you really think they won't notice your hair? That you won't be killed the very moment you step out in the open field and the first Krypteian officer sees you? How many people do you see walking around with bright-red natural hair? You really think you can hide your origins, your appearance, your green eyes, the way you walk and talk, the way you behave, no matter how hard you try? You stupid child." Nisha let go of Liora's hair, and turned around. There was a note of sadness in her voice, and Liora knew that she'd just remembered all their fellow villagers, friends, neighbours and family that got killed in the massacre of their homevillage, Melas. "They would recognize you from a mile away."

Liora bowed her head. Her teacher was right. But she wasn't willing to give up. "Would you think the same if they came and took Leena? If you weren't certain of her future, her life, her everything? What did you then teach me alchemy for? For staying in this small dumb village for my whole life, with my only purpose being fixing stupid villagers' broken stuff?!" She clenched her fists. "You know very well the war is coming, Nisha! You had someone you loved and who was taken by the claws of war too, didn't you? If there was a smallest possibility that he's alive and waiting somewhere out there for you to come and save him - wouldn't you give your everything in this world to protect him?"

But Nisha didn't turn back at Liora, even though she called her by her name, which she'd almost never did in her life. She just slowly crouched, and continued to prepare the dinner. "Let go of these thoughts, Liora. You would never make it." Was there trembling in her voice, or Liora just imagined it? "I would give everything in this world to protect those who I love. That's why I'm not allowing you to do such foolishness."

Instead of being touched by those words, and maybe failing to see the real meaning behind them, this turned Liora even more furious. "You know nothing!" She ran towards the exit and slammed the cottage door. "Nothing!", she repeated to herself as she was running through the warm night air, through the cherry orchards, to the small forest near the village. "I am not a kid anymore, and you're not my real mother, Nisha. Your prohibitions mean nothing to me."

She talked to herself like this until she reached the forest. The air here was cooler and fresher, so she roamed around the forest the whole night, trying to calm herself down, and think about everything, including her plan to run away if things (and Nisha) get nasty around here. But as the night was passing by, she cleared her head, and when it was already dawn, the fatigue overcame her, and she fell asleep next to the river.

*end of flashback*

* * *

Life in Sakhana was a good and careless one. Liora lived with her teacher and her little daughter, Leena, in a cottage, in the middle of a peaceful village, well-known for it's beautiful cherry blossom trees. People here were friendly, good towards each other - everyone helped everyone with what they were best at: hunting, cooking food, making clothes, repairing stuff... Nisha was very respected because of her knowledge of alchemy - a metaphysical art of comprehensing the structure of of some matter, decomposing it, and composing into a new form. She, together with her apprentice and foster daughter, Liora, were the only alchemists in the region of Sakhana. Sakhana being a village on the very south of Krypteia, its inhabitants didn't know much about the goverment's hatred towards "infidels" - or Heathens, as Liora's people called themselves.

Nisha's family weren't the only Heathens in Sakhana. Many of them gathered here and asked for shelter from the people of Sakhana, after they'd survived the massacre of their village fourteen years ago. Now they were living in peace, like they've always been nothing more but normal Sakhana people - the natives respected them and vice-versa, and there were no problems at all. Yes, it was a good and peaceful, careless life.

As she was approaching her teacher's cottage, Liora was afraid of Nisha's reaction. Will she get mad because of her storming out of the house yesterday? Will she yell at her, maybe even punish her in some way? She stopped when she reached the door, took a few deep breaths, and slowly pressed the doorknob.

She was very surprised that her try to sneak in without much noice was greeted not by yelling or throwing dishes at her, but by wide, generous smile of her teacher.

"Look who's back", she smiled as she was wiping a plate. "Our runnaway bird. Did the mosquitos bite you much near that river? I told Yukimi to find you before we eat the whole lunch - I see she'd done a good job!" Nisha was smiling like nothing had happened yesterday. In the corner of the room, on a small bed, her daughter Leena was playing with a snow-white bunny - the one that woke Liora up in the forest.

"Big sis is back!" Leena jumped excitingly as she saw Liora, throwing the poor bunny in the air, who barely made to land on its feet. She ran into Liora's embrace, almost knocking her down. "I was worried about you! Where were you last night?!" She reprehended her in her cute, childish way, and then added in a much quieter voice - "You were supposed to teach me the fundamentals of alchemy, remember?"

Liora smiled at this six-year-old's enthusiasm to learn alchemy just like her mother and bigger sister. She crouched, so that thay were the same height, and petted her head. "Big sis had something important to think about. But don't worry, there's plenty of time for you to learn alchemy!"

"Leena wants to become a great alchemist just like big sis and Mama!" Little girl stood up and started to run across the house. When she came near a pile of dishes Nisha was washing, she accidentally bumped into it out of her excitement. The pile came down, every single plate breaking down as it came in touch with the ground.  
Leena stopped, watching a mess she made, with her eyes wide open and her little hand over her mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, Mama..."

"Now look what have you done!", Nisha said a little bit angrily. "And I've just washed them!"

"Don't worry, I'll fix this!" Liora took a nearby fork, and started drawing something on the ground.

It looked like three concentrated circles, with four moon phases on northern, eastern, southern and western side of it. Inside the biggest circle, there was a big pentagram. Then she took all the broken pieces, and put them into the circle. She concentrated, pressed her palms together, and then placed them onto the circle.

There was a bright beam of blue light, that blinded Leena. When she could look again, in front of her stood a new, untouched pile of dishes - like she'd never broken them.

"This is amazing! Big sis, teach me! I want to learn that!"

"When you grow up, honey." Nisha hugged her daughter and then shooed her gently. "Now go play outside before you make more mess."

Leena ran out, laughing all the way, followed by Yukimi, who tried to keep her pace with long hops.

"Aaaah, you were the same as her when you were little." Nisha threw herself into the chair, tired from all the chores. "Always running somewhere, bumping into things, breaking them, watching me repair them and then breaking them again on purpose, only to watch me repeair them with alchemy..." She sighed. Those were the nice memories, even though it was the hardest time for both of them, after losing their homes and their loved ones.

"Do you plan on teaching Leena alchemy too?"

"I don't know. It's weird how she isn't interested in magick at all - never has she asked me to teach her how to heal a person, or to make potions that will make her irresistible to all the boys in the village." Her mother giggled like a little girl. "It's always alchemy, alchemy, alchemy - Mama teach me how to move air; Mama teach me how to enlarge fire; Mama teach me how to create wind; Mama teach me how to repair broken stuff... The list goes on and on." Nisha leaned her head on her hand. "Sometimes it's really tiring raising up a child alone."

"You have me", Liora smiled as she put her hand on her teacher's shoulder. "Besides, if she wants to learn it so badly, what's the matter? Teach her! It couldn't be tha- WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Liora was interrupted as they heard a loud noise from the outside, something like an explosion, and the earth shook, making the pile of dishes break into pieces once again.

"I don't know..." Nisha, who kneeled down when the ground shook, suddenly gasped. "LEENA! Quick, we have to go out!"

The two of them ran outside, only to find poor Leena in their yard, shaking out of fear, holding Yukimi tightly, in front of something that looked like one of the worst nightmares that haunted Liora was coming true.

People were running around and screaming, searching for shelter. They could hear distant gunshots; some of the beautiful cherry trees were burning. Military boots have raised the dust, so it was becoming difficult to breath. As far as Nisha could see, it seemed like at least two dozens of Krypteian's soldiers had come to Sakhana, yelling and shooting at their people, and searching for something.

"Take Leena and go inside; stay there and don't go until I tell you to, or until I come back. I will go look what the hell is happening, and see what I can do."

Liora protested. "But..."

"No buts! AND NO, YOU CAN'T COME WITH ME! FOR GODDESS' SAKE, LISTEN ONCE TO ME, LIORA!" Liora was frightened of the sudden change in her teacher's behaviour. She took Leena's hand and rushed into their cottage, without a word.

Nisha stopped their first neighbour who was running towards the house next to hers. "What the hell is going on? Why is the military here? And why are they burning our village?"

"I don't know!" His eyes were full of fear. "They've got swords... and guns... and horses... and cannons! They were shooting cannonballs! They've already crashed Mr. Phillips' house!"

"Oh no..." Nisha gasped. Mr. Phillip was the oldest man in the village, highly respected by everybody for his good deeds and willingness to help whenever anybody needed it. "But why? Why all of the sudden? What are they looking for?"

Her neighbour wasn't really willing to talk. "I have no idea! But they were saying something about the eradication... or purification... something like that! You better hide, Nisha! I have to go check on my wife and kids!" He rushed towards his house.

Determined to set her face against the traitors who had come to hurt her neighbours, Nisha rolled up the sleeves of her old shirt, and went forward, toward the center of the village.

* * *

When she came to the center, she realized that it was in a complete chaos - there were much more than two dozen soldiers; at least fifty of them were rushing into people's houses, throwing and pushing them out, rummaging through their homes, shooting anyone who was in their way, and shooting cannonballs from a great cannon which they'd put in the center square, whenever it seemed like the crowd was getting too noisy and tumultuous.

"You can't just come and destroy our homes just like that, all of a sudden, without any explanation!", an angry villager shouted at one of the military officers, a balding, tall man with thin muctaches, who was sitting on a horse next to the canyon, calmly watching the chaos in front of him.

"I have five small kids! I'm a poor man, I have to feed them somehow! You can't just burn my house and everything I own!", another one shouted tearfully, as he fell on his knees in front of the officer.

"SILENCE!", officer's face turned angrily red, as he took out his whip and slashed poor two men, who fell on the ground, covered in blood, writhing in pain. "Silence, you filthy peasants! How dare you speak to a high-military officer like that? After hiding all those godless infidels, who elude the word of Shammah! And you're not ashamed of it!" He slashed two men once again, and then took one of them by his hair, took his sword out, and put it under his throat. "Now watch, filthy peasants! Let this be a lesson for you - this is how all of you who oppose us and hide filthy infidels will end!" With those words, he sliced the poor man's throat and threw his body to the ground.

This was like a trigger which made Nisha step out of the stunned crowd. She was trembling with rage. "How... dare... you..." she released her long, dark-ginger hair from her bun, and let it fall down on her strong back. "How DARE you..." she clapped her hands, whose both palms were tattoed with circles similar to the one Liora drew when she was fixing the plates. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY FELLOW VILLAGERS!" She screamed in rage, as she placed her hands onto the ground, and a strong, overheated strike of air hit the officer with a whip, together with those who were nearest to him, and smashed him into the wall of one stone house. It seemed like he broke his spine.

"Officer Shibuya!", a younger man ran toward the officer to help him, but was interrupted when suddenly a root of a tree appeared from the ground and wrapped around his ankle, knocking him down. "Not so fast", Nisha came near him, and snapped her fingers. The root, almost like having a will by its own, started to throw the man from one side to another, making him hit the ground harder and harder every time, until it threw him toward the same wall, knocking him into Officer Shibuya, where he was left unconscious.

"You've had enough, assholes?! So who's next to interfere with the peaceful life of my fellow neighbours?!" Nisha's face has changed so much from rage, that even Liora wouldn't recognize her now. She was breathing heavily, and she clapped her hands once again. "You haven't seen nothing yet-AAAAAAAH"

She screamed in pain as another whip hit her from behind. Another one wrapped around her throat. Three other officers were standing behind her, two holding whips, and the third one pointing a gun at her head. A fourth one, dressed a bit different from the others - a white coat together with a completely white suit, instead of black and golden Krypteian army uniform - who also seemed a bit weaker than the high-trained officers, joined them.

"So you must be the famous Alchemist from Sakhana everyone's been blabbing about" he said in a sarcastic tone. "The only alchemist in this region! Ahahaha" he laughed evilly. "Miss Nisha Rowan. Well, pleased to meet you, Miss" such an ironic accent was on the word 'Miss'.

"Should I shoot her?", the officer with a gun asked.

"Not yet" the man in white smiled.

Nisha's face turned into an evil grin, as she placed her hands on the whip that was strangling her. "You've underestimated me, assholes!" She suddenly transmuted the whip around her neck, tearing it into pieces with alchemy. The white man's face suddenly got a very happy, maniacal expression.

"That's what I've been waiting for, Miss Famous Alchemist!" In the blink of an eye, he pulled two short, but sharp daggers out of his pockets, and threw them precisely.

They pierced right through Nisha's palms.

* * *

"No matter what she says, I can't just sit here and pretend to be calm!" Liora banged her fist on the table, making little Leena jump. She stood up.

"Where are you going, sis?"

"I'm going to help Mama. Now I need you to be a good girl and hide here, and wait for us to come. Ok honey? Don't let anyone in, and don't let anyone know that you're in!"

Leena looked confused. "O-ok"

"I love you sweety." Liora kissed her forhead.

As she was opening the door, she heard a tiny voice from inside - "Are you sure you're coming back?"

"In a blink of an eye."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Feeling uneasy, Liora closed the door to their cottage. She secured it, and then went out of the yard. But then she remembered the loud explosion she heard before. And an idea came to her mind.

"Yukimi! Hey, Yukimi!"

The bunny came hopping from behind the house.

"Look, I'm not sure if you're going to understand me, but - could you make a circle around the house?"

Yukimi just looked at her. Liora really wasn't sure about this.

She sighed. "Oh well, it's worth a try - here, take this" she took a piece of a rope where they dried their clothes, tied one of its ends to a small rock, and another one to Yukimi's left back leg. Then she drew one of her transmutation circles in front of the house, using a twig. "Now go!"

Yukimi ran around the house. As soon as she made a full circle, Liora clapped her hands and pressed them on the circle on the ground.

With a huge trembling, a giant wall just rose from the ground, surrounding their cottage and yard completely.

"At least now I can leave in peace, not having to worry for Leena", she said to herself. "Thanks a lot, Yukimi. Now you go hide somewhere. I'll be back with Sensei as soon as I can!"

She watched the bunny leave, and then hurried to the center of the village.

The first thing she heard as she reached the center was an ear-piercing scream, and then shock after she realized that it belonged to her teacher.

Nisha was trembling in pain, as three men on horses stood above her, laughing, and one smaller, dressed whole in white, was holding her chin with his hand.

"So, what we have here is one disabled alchemist. Ha! What a pity! It's such a shame that you can't perform your magic, now that your precious circles are ruined, right, my dear?" He left out an evil giggle.

"And she's the only alchemist around? Hahaha!", said the officer with a gun.

"Yes, she's - or should I say, was - the only one who had a little bit of capacibility to counteract us. And as a treat because of her 'special position' - well, we won't kill you. Instead, we'll make you watch all your filthy infidel friends die from our hands! Hahahahaha!"

"The only thing you're gonna watch is your pitiful ass being burned to ashes!" The man in white didn't even get to see what hit him, as he was violently knocked on the ground, his head being pressed on the ground with a black leather boot. "Sensei, you alright?"

"Liora... run away... they're dangerous..."

"Where the hell did this child come from?", the officer with a gun said. "What shall we do with her, Mr. Lucas?"

"Idiot." Lucas threw Liora off with one quick move, as he got up. But his face turned into a very evil grin, as he noticed the burning red color of Liora's hair. "Aaaah, I see. Another filthy infidel. Who knew you godless creatures with that ugly pigment could be that pretty?" His evil laugh pierced Liora's ears. "Officer Santos! Officer Bai! Tie this bitch up!" He threw exhausted Nisha to the two officers with whips. "And you, my little..." He smacked Liora so hard that she flew few metres backwards. "We'll deal with you later. Accius!" He spoke to the third officer, the one with a gun. "Make sure the little bastard doesn't run away." He touched his face, which was pulsating on the spot where Liora's boot hit him. "Now let's finish this dirty job and go get something good to eat."

As Santos and Bai were tying up Nisha, Accius approached Liora, who was still lying on the ground. He took his gun and aimed at her right foot. Her scream pierced the air as his bullet went right through her foot, leaving a little stream of blood flowing through the dust.

"Be happy that I didn't blow your head", he turned his horse arround and hurried to catch up with the others, who went on with their bloody visit, dragging all tied-up and wounded, bleeding Nisha along with them.

Liora was feeling helpless. She couldn't believe how things had drastically changed in the last couple of hours. Her life has turned upside down - yes, she'd heard the rumors spreading about the new extermination of her race that was coming - but even in her dreams she didn't imagine it was going to happen this fast! She hit a small rock on the ground and cursed. She tried to stand up; every move was so painfull. Her right foot was bleeding heavily; but what hurt her million times more was the fear for her teacher's life. Nisha was injured much worse than Liora; besides, one of her advantages was that those soldiers didn't know that she knows how to use alchemy. She tried to make a few more moves, leaving a small trail of blood behind her. And then it struck her.

Alchemy.

Liora stood stunned for a few moments, as an idea was forming in her head. She looked around her. The center of the village - the place with a big fountain-statue of Shammah - had a shape of an almost perfect circle. The fountain's base was circle-shaped too. The sun reflected strongly in the window of one house on the very right side of the center. Now if she could only...

She bit the bullet. Trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her foot with her every move as much as it was possible, she started to run across the village center. She ran five times, leaving a trail of blood behind her, which now formed a shape of a perfect pentagram star. On each side of the village center, she drew tiny drawings in the sand - which represented four moon phases. When she reached her starting point, exhausted from all the blood loss, and a little bit wild from the pain, she smiled evilishly. With an edge of a village centre and the fountain as concentrated circles, her blood trails forming a pentagram inside it, and four drawings of moon phases on all four sides of the circle - the whole center has now turned into her transmutation circle!

Praying that in all the rush those soldiers hadn't seen her running around, and that she won't faint before she finnishes what she'd decided, Liora took a deep breath. "Sensei, my fellow villagers, all the trees and nature around me, I apologize in advance for all the damage I might cause. But this might be our only chance." She clapped her hands, concentrated on the sun reflection in the window on her right side, and pressed them violently onto the ground.

It was like someone has just lighted a fuse around the village center. In no time a wall of fire appeared, at least three metres high. And then it started to spread all around.

Lucas and his soldiers suddenly stopped as they felt the heat has risen. They couldn't believe their eyes - behind them, there was a blast of fire, which looked like it was chasing after them.

"What the hell-"

Standing in the middle of the blaze, panting, shaking, with its outlines blurred, stood something. "A - a fire demon?"

"Don't be an idiot, those things don't exist!"

"Than what in the world is THAT?!"

"Don't just stand there like an idiot, shoot! Shoot, you incapable fool!" Lucas jumped and took the gun from frightened Officer Accius' hand, and shoot a few bullets at the creature of fire.

Liora just moved her arms, and the bullets that were approaching her got swallowed by flames. "You evil, inhuman creatures. How dare you do this to my people! Not just mine, they are your people, the people of your country, too!" Liora's was sounded so angry, furious, but yet suprisingly calm and strong, for someone in her state. "What did us Heathens ever do to you? You've destroyed our families, our hopes and dreams, our lives fourteen years ago. I won't let you do that again!"

"SOLDIERS!", Lucas yelled, as about twenty nearest soldiers joined them, even though their horses were hesitant to come near the fire. "We have an emergency here! Eliminate that kid!" He added more quietly to himself - " How is it possible that this kid is an alchemist too? How come we've never heard about it? Ughhh, we've been decieved!"

"Liora..." Nisha's voice was so weak that no one could hear her. "Fire... I never knew that you had that in you..."

But Liora was running out of strenght too. Her view was already becoming blurred, and the flames around her weaker. But she promised herself she's never going to give up. Krypteian soldiers had already started to run towards her, some with their swords drawn, another ones shooting bullets from their guns.

With her last atom of strenght, she clapped her hands once again, and pressed them to the ground. The flames swallowed the soldiers, who were now screaming in pain, running away from the blaze that was making their flesh burn.

"It's an act of the devil himself!", they yelled as they started to ran away from the flames, jump on their horses and into their vehicles that were waiting for them at the entrance of the village, just to get as far away as possible from this cursed place. Lucas was furious. "You fools! You cowards! Running away like some pathethic insects from a juvenile kid?!"

"Why don't you go fight her yourself, if you're so brave?!", Officer Bai shouted as he was passing Lucas, before he jumped on his already traumatized horse, holding his right aram, which was heavily burned, with his left one.

"How pitiful." Lucas turned around and faced Liora eye to eye. The flames were now merely smoldering, and he could see the disastrous effects their rage had left on the village - but there was something else that was bothering him, and that was the still burning, living fire in Liora's eyes.

"Now I'll make sure you never hurt anyone again the way you hurt Sensei." With this words, she pressed her burning hands onto his right arm.

In a blink of an eye, his arm was nothing more but a piece of burned, charred, useless flesh.

He screamed in pain.

"Take him away." One of the last soldiers left flinched when Liora spoke to him, but still picked up Lucas, who was writhing and moaning in pain, and placed him on his horse. "I hope this is a good lesson for all of you, what happens to those who threaten our people!"

As the last of them left, Liora fell on her knees, right next to Nisha. Now that the traitors were gone, it was like she snapped out of some dream, nightmare, some uncontrolled, wild state. All the adrenaline that allowed her body to stay strong even in that wounded state was now gone, and she felt weak like she'd never felt in her life. "Sensei..." the word barely escaped her lips, as she fell on the ground next to her teacher, and lost her consciousness.

* * *

"So, are you sure about it?"

"Yes."

"One hundred percent?"

"Two hundred."

"Liora..." Nisha held her step-daughter's face in her palms, wrapped in bandages. "Do you know what risks this journey takes with it?"

"I know, Sensei." Liora smiled gently and took her teacher's wounded hand in her own. Her palms were now tattooed with symbols of three concentrated circles, with a pentagram inside the biggest one, and small moon phases on each four sides of the circle.

"Aaah, let me see those. Master Basil did a really good job, didn't he?" Nisha smiled, referring to the best tattoo artist in Sakhana. "Wait a moment. And what are those?" She pointed at two small triangles inside Liora's transmutation circles - an inverted one, crossed with a line, in the middle of the pentagram on her left hand, and a smaller, upright one, just below the pentagram, on her right palm.

"Oh, I didn't tell you?" Liora let out a laugh. Right after she banished the soldiers from Sakhana, she was proclaimed the hero of the village. But both her and Nisha were in such miserable states, that they needed to spend at least two weeks in the "hospital" - their village healers' huge house for medical purposes. As her foot and Nisha's hands were recovering, they had plenty of time to talk about everything that'd happened, and about Liora's newly discovered fire alchemical ability. And it was one of those nights when she'd made her decision. "I've added something to my transmutation circles. This, upright triangle in my right circle, is an alchemical symbol of fire. It's in honor of my new fire ability - and also to help me improve it, and let me control my transmutations better. And this, inverted triangle crossed with a single line in my left circle, is an alchemical symbol of Earth. It's for me to never forget who I am." She put her hand on her heart.

Tears formed in Nisha's eyes. She appeared to be much more soft-hearted after the accident. "You're a very brave girl, Liora. I'm sorry that even I, as your teacher and the closest one to you, have underestimated you. But look around you." She moved her hand in circles, showing the village. "All these people think of you as their hero. They admire you, Liora. You saved their lives. You even helped in restoring the village after the mess that has been made, as soon as your wounds recovered. But, I'm sorry, but you can't stop me from being worried for you."

"I know." She looked somewhere in the distance. What awaits her on the other side of the forest she'd known so well?

"One more thing." Nisha suddenly sounded much more serious. "You know that, in days that await you, you are going to be the main target for them, as soon as you leave this forest.

"I know." Liora looked at her red hair, but then tried to cheer her teacher up. "But many Krypteians dye their hair, you know?"

"Yes. But... let me at least do this." Nisha brought her bandaged hand to her lips and then placed it above Liora's eyes. Liora felt like a small wave of electricity was sent through her forehead.

"Wh-what was that?"

Nisha laughed. "I turned your eyebrows black. That way you can fool them much easier that you're a natural black-haired."

Liora raised her eyebrow. "I wonder how funny on scale from one to ten do I look."

But Nisha's expression turned serious again. "And just something more."

"What?"

"You must be ready to kill a man."

Liora's eyes widened. Deep in her heart, she knew this was going to happen, sooner or later. But she had just been pushing it in a distant corner of her mind.

"I - I know that..."

"Liora, I've seen you in that battle. The worst you could do was burn that bastard's arm. I would have sliced him into pieces. But you have a kind heart."

"I will do anything that's needed to save my and other good people's lives. And I will do anything to find and bring back my family."

Nisha suddenly hugged her. "I know you will."

Suddenly, Leena came from the house, yawning, followed by Yukimi. "Where is big sis going?"

"Big sis is going to find her own big sis, and Mama and Papa!"

Little Leena, already sleepy, seemed confused. "Is big sis coming back soon?"

"She is."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Nisha looked at her younger child. "You know we're gonna miss you, right?"

"I know." Liora picked up her little sister, and hugged her tightly. "I'll miss you too, little muffin!"

"Are you sure you remember where to go? After you go through the forest, follow the goat track to the Glenna city. There, you can take a train to the northen regions!"

"Thank you Sensei, I got that."

"Please, take care."

"I will."

"Write to us often!"

Leena's remark made Liora smile. "Expect a letter soon!" She hugged her little sister once again, petted the little bunny, and gave her teacher a kiss on the cheek.

"We're all cheering for you! Don't forget your fellow villagers!"

"I won't! I love you!"

And leaving her two closest persons in the world waving behind her, with a smile on her face, she headed to the forest.


End file.
